Sudan's U.N. voting rights restored

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KHARTOUM, Sudan, Feb. 26 (UPI) -- Sudan has paid $516,085 -- slightly more than half of what it owes -- to have its voting rights restored at the United Nations, officials say.

It's the second time since 2012 the country's ability to vote at the international body had been suspended, the Sudan Tribune reported Monday.

Sudan was reinstated after it made the payment, said Eduardo del Buey, deputy spokesman for the secretary-general.

The East African country had owed $1 million and had to pay at least $347,879.

The decision to suspend Sudan's voting rights was "politically motivated," Mohamed al-Hassan, head of the Sudanese Parliament's Foreign Relations Committee, said earlier this month.

Sudan's Foreign Ministry said the country's delinquent status was a temporary condition.

Payment of the funds was complicated by U.S. sanctions against Sudan that bar it from having a bank account in the United States. Sudan made the payment to the U.N. Development Program, which transferred the money to U.N. headquarters in New York.

Sudan was among 15 member countries of the United Nations whose voting rights were suspended earlier this year.